How it works

From sign-up to a live server.

Here is every step, with screenshots of the real dashboard. You do the first few in a few minutes. After that, our team takes care of the technical work.

  1. Step 01

    Create your account

    Sign up with your name and email, and tell us a little about what you do. It takes a minute and there’s nothing to pay yet.

    The hostCode sign-up form with fields for name, email and password.
  2. Step 02

    Confirm your email

    We email you a link. Click it within 24 hours to confirm it’s really you.

    Your dashboard lists every step from here to a live server, so you always know what comes next.

    The dashboard asking to confirm the email address, with a list of the steps still to come.
  3. Step 03

    We review your account

    hostCode is a managed service for a small number of clients, so a real person looks at every new account.

    We may email or call you to talk about your website and what you need before you pay anything. You’ll get an email as soon as you’re approved.

    The dashboard showing that the account is being reviewed.
  4. Step 04

    Turn on two-step sign-in

    Once you’re approved, you protect your account with an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator: scan the QR code, enter the 6-digit code it shows, and save your recovery codes.

    From then on you enter a code from your phone each time you log in, so your password alone is never enough to get in.

    The two-step sign-in setup screen with a QR code to scan and a box for the 6-digit code.
  5. Step 05

    Choose your plan and pay

    Pick Starter, Growth or Scale. You pay once a year through Stripe’s secure checkout, and hostCode never sees your card details.

    The three plans, Starter, Growth and Scale, with their yearly prices.
  6. Step 06

    We set up your server

    A member of our team creates your server on Amazon Web Services, installs what your website needs, sets up security and checks everything twice.

    This usually takes up to 24 hours. We email you when it’s ready.

    The dashboard showing the server being set up, with all earlier steps done.
  7. Step 07

    Your server is live

    Your dashboard shows how your server is doing in plain terms: whether it’s running, how much memory, processing power, storage and bandwidth it’s using, and which services are on.

    You don’t have to look. We watch it around the clock. But it’s there whenever you want to.

    The live dashboard with server status, public IP, memory, CPU, disk and bandwidth usage.
  8. Step 08

    Security, handled

    A firewall blocks attacks and bad bots automatically. You can see what was stopped over the last 15 days and, if you ever want to, block or allow an address yourself.

    Charts of blocked attacks and bot challenges over the last 15 days.
  9. Step 09

    Every website at a glance

    Each site on your server has its own page: its domains and SSL certificate, the software it runs, and the details for connecting to it.

    Details for a WordPress website: IP address, disk used, PHP version, SSL status and domains.
  10. Step 10

    Billing in one place

    Your plan, renewal date and invoices are always on the Billing page, where you can also update your card or change plan.

    The billing page with the current plan, next payment and invoices.

Ready when you are

Start with a conversation.

Create your account and we’ll be in touch, or talk to us first if you have questions.

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